The Pines
Bistros as a U.S. restaurant concept started in the 1980s, originally fashioned as a response to the growing popularity of French bistro cooking. The ‘American’ bistro version sought to combine the elegance of traditional French cuisine with the everyday aesthetic of an American-style neighborhood restaurant, an easy mix in concept but often difficult to faithfully execute. The Pines, opened in 2018, at first tried to define American bistro with a modestly inventive mix of French, Italian, and American butcher style dishes, including spins on classic comforts. The menu matured to a more traditional beach area concept, but the kitchen could never duplicate its initial success. The food was formatively consistently good, and as important, The Pines initially struck a balance of coastal restaurant simplicity and intimacy with the bistro style of easy hospitality. But our last visits witnessed laziness in cooking, with the service indifferent and slow. While the upstairs ‘Treehouse Lounge’ serves interesting cocktails that are “hand-crafted” (aren’t all cocktails crafted by hand?) the small plates and desserts replace entrees that are apparently not good candidates for treehouse dining. The Pines had the promise of maturing into a Baltimore Avenue blueblood, but seems to have lost its purpose. Hard to say what it is now, other than an expensive run-of-the-mill beach area bistro-type restaurant which seems stagnated, both in service, food, and ambience. When reservations at more interesting restaurants are unavailable, The Pines may be a substitute, but the only thing memorable these days are the promise it once had.
